


roman vs the gender binary

by riverblujay



Series: adventures in gender [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Agender Virgil, Demiboy Roman, M/M, Roman speaks all of the romance languages not just spanish fight me, the logince came out of nowhere but was demanding to be written, virgil can do epic makeup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 08:16:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14468622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riverblujay/pseuds/riverblujay
Summary: “No! Wait-” Roman called out. Virgil turned back around. “I…” He said. “Can- can you maybe do my makeup?”Another eyebrow raise. Roman tried his best to put a pleading look on his face. He must have succeeded, because Virgil sighed.“Fine,” he said. “But go to the living room. I can tell just being on the edge of my room is making you anxious. Meet me there.”“Will do.”(or: Roman isn't cis.)





	roman vs the gender binary

**Author's Note:**

> wow this escalated reAL QUICK. I meant to write a short thing about agender irgil and demiboy roman and somehow i end up with this 6k monstrosity. the logince happened bc roman and logan insisted and who am i to refuse??? (also what is accurate characterization rip)

Roman took a deep breath. _Here we go,_ he thought. 

Slowly, he raised his fist and timidly knocked on Virgil’s door three times. “Virgil?” He called out. “Are you in there?” The door to the anxious side’s room swung open, with a somewhat annoyed look on its occupant’s face. “What is it, Roman?” Virgil sighed.

Virgil was wearing his signature hoodie, but under it was wearing a t-shirt that featured the checklist “Boy”, “Girl”, and a checkmark next to the last item, which was “Existential Nightmare.” He was wearing more dramatic makeup than usual, with winged eyeliner as sharp as Roman’s sword and eyeshadow (a deep purple and black ombre) on the top of the other side’s lid instead of the bottom. He could tell Virgil had put on foundation, with highlight and contour to boot, not to mention a dark purple lip that was nearly black.

“Well? What was it you wanted to see me for, your majesty? Otherwise I’m just gonna go back to my room.” Roman bit his lip and stood there awkwardly. Virgil raised an eyebrow (perfectly filled and shaped, of course) and started to turn back into his room.

“No! Wait-” Roman called out. Virgil turned back around. “I…” He said. “Can- can you maybe do my makeup?”

Another eyebrow raise. Roman tried his best to put a pleading look on his face. He must have succeeded, because Virgil sighed. 

“Fine,” he said. “But go to the living room. I can tell just being on the edge of my room is making you anxious. Meet me there.”

“Will do.”

Virgil bit his lip and glanced at Roman’s clothes, which was his normal prince outfit. “Actually, stop by your room and change into clothes you wouldn’t mind getting dirty, just in case.”

Virgil went back into his room, presumably to grab anything he needed for makeup. Roman sunk out to his own room, and quickly changed into dark gray sweatpants with a minimalist gold crown on the side of one pant leg by his hip and a semi-long, black t-shirt with “What if soy milk is just regular milk introducing itself in Spanish?” in white bubble lettering. He sunk out again, this time to the living room.

Virgil was already there, with his absolutely _massive_ makeup bag (barely a bag, it was more of a case, really). “Oh, good, you’re here,” he said to Roman, not looking up as he continued getting his supplies set up. Roman saw a whole section dedicated to eyeshadows, mostly dark palettes but quite a few colorful ones too. Another section was dedicated to foundations, contouring, highlight, concealer, pretty much any face makeup one would need. There were a variety of other products (Virgil had a substantial amount of eyeliners) but as the other side turned around there was something Roman noticed in particular.

“Nice shirt,” Virgil smirked. Roman raised an eyebrow back. “Nice headband.”

Virgil had pulled his bangs away from his face with a hard plastic headband that was black with a pattern of dark purple roses. He blushed a little, but quickly smirked. 

“Lucky for you, I have another one. Don’t worry,” Virgil assured, “It’s more your style.”

He presented Roman with a second headband, this one a dark red with some golden accents. “And why are we wearing headbands, if you don’t mind me asking?” He asked Virgil.

“Uh, have you ever tried to do makeup with hair in your face? It’s way easier to pull it back. I usually just braid mine back, but I don’t think your hair is long enough and I didn’t want to take the time to do mine right now.” 

“Oh,” Roman said quietly. Virgil glanced at him with a strange look on his face as he held the headband out to Roman. “Maybe later, we can try to braid your hair. I’m pretty good at working with shorter hair.” Roman tried to hide how his mood immediately brightened, but graciously accepted the proffered headband and put it on. “What now?” He asked the other side.

“Now, we sit.” Virgil plopped down onto the floor, crisscross applesauce style. Roman mimicked him and Virgil started choosing products and brushes. (And for some reason, a sponge?)

“So,” the anxious side said casually. “Any particular reason you wanted me to do your makeup?” He started leaning over and applying a liquid with the consistency of foundation (but wasn’t quite the same product) onto Roman’s face. “This is primer, by the way,” Virgil answered his question before he had the chance to ask it. 

“I don’t know,” Roman replied honestly as he let Virgil spread the primer over his face. “I just- I felt like having makeup today? I don’t know why, but it was something that I felt like I needed, for some reason.”

“Okay,” Virgil said, backing off of him and trading the primer for what Roman knew was foundation and the sponge. He poured a little bit of the liquid onto the back of his hand and dabbed the sponge into it before patting the sponge all over Roman’s face, making sure to blend. “That’s perfectly fine.” 

He continued applying the makeup to Roman’s face, Virgil giving instructions and Roman following. It was when they reached the eyeshadow that Roman finally spoke again.

“Virgil?” He asked softly. “How- how did you know that you weren’t a boy?”

It was common knowledge between the sides that Virgil was not, in fact, a boy. He had been rather secretive about it, not revealing anything about his gender until quite some time after revealing his name to the other sides. Thomas still didn’t actually know that Virgil was nonbinary (agender, he had said specifically), even though he, Logan, and Patton had encouraged Virgil to tell him. One morning, in response to their urging, Virgil had simply shrugged and said “It’s not that important,” before going back to his cereal. 

Virgil leaned back and Roman could see a small smile form on the other side’s face. “So that’s what this is really about, huh?” He bit his lip but nodded at the other side. Virgil went back to applying eyeshadow on Roman. “Well,” he sighed, “It just sort of felt… off? When someone called me a boy. But being called a girl didn’t fit either. After a while, I realized I wasn’t _anything_ , just me, you know?” He shrugged. “Close your eyes, I’m gonna do your eyeliner now,” Virgil instructed.

Roman obeyed. “I don’t know,” He said. “I think-” _Deep breaths, Roman_ , “I think I might not be a boy.”

“Okay.”

“That’s it? Okay?”

“If that’s what you feel, then that’s it. You don’t have to be a boy just because Thomas is.”

“But I don’t know what I am,” Roman frowned. He heard Virgil quietly screw the cap back on the eyeliner. “Roman,” he said gently. “Open your eyes and look at me.” He cracked open his eyes and met Virgil’s.

“This isn’t some kind of twelve-step program, okay? You don’t have to know right away. God knows I didn’t.”

“Then how did you find out?” Roman desperately asked. “Research,” The other admitted. “The internet. A lot of soul searching at three in the morning. Not that you have to do your soul searching at three in the morning,” He hastily tacked on. Virgil brought out a tube of something. “Mascara,” he said to Roman. “Keep your eyes open, and don’t freak out.” 

Virgil brought the prickly end of the stick right up to Roman’s eyelashes and brushed it over them a few times, then repeated the action on the other eye. He leaned back and put the mascara away in one of the compartments.

Roman gave Virgil a slight smile. The other appraised his face. “Just one thing left, I think,” He said. Virgil reached into his bag and dug through his lipsticks until he found a deep red liquid one. “Okay, don’t do anything with your lips yet.” Roman obliged, letting Virgil carefully apply the crimson to his lips. 

“Now purse them together, like this,” he told Roman as he demonstrated pushing his lips together. “I think you’re ready,” Virgil smirked, and brought out a mirror with the back facing Roman. He suddenly flipped the mirror so that Roman could see his reflection.

He gasped. The person in the mirror couldn’t be him. The mirror person was gorgeous- perfectly smooth skin, eyeliner winged and sharp, with a golden eyeshadow behind it. Their lips were a deep red, as red as Roman’s sash- no, darker- with a perfect cupid’s bow. Roman sharply exhaled, and so did they. But this mirror person couldn’t be him. Roman could never look that beautiful. 

“You like it?” Virgil’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “I thought I’d give you a look that was just as extra as you, so-” Roman cut him off. “How..? Is that really… me?”

The anxious side smirked. “Yep. It’s you, Ro.” 

He sighed in amazement once more. 

\--- 

That night, Roman had to force himself to wash off the makeup.

Virgil had kindly provided him with some proper eye makeup remover, as he had used waterproof eyeliner and mascara. Roman had taken the bottle and then hid in his room for the rest of the day. He hadn’t wanted to take Virgil’s beautiful creation off, but had in the end decided it would probably be for the best.

(Besides, Virgil had given Roman a few other things- a small makeup bag of his own, just a few necessities. Roman figured mascara was subtle enough to try on his own tomorrow.)

As he cleaned his face, he thought about the other’s words from earlier today. 

_“This isn’t some kind of twelve-step program, okay? You don’t have to know right away.”_

Maybe Roman didn’t _have_ to know right now, but soul searching was hard, alright? He’d much rather skip to the part where he had everything figured out. Still, as he got into bed, he thought about it.

“She had done a lot of thinking that day. She had especially liked her eyeliner,” Roman mumbled, trying out the pronoun. _Nope_ , Roman thought. _I don’t think I’m a girl._

Virgil flitted back and forth between pronouns like they were clothes he could take on and off. Sure, there were days that the anxious side asked to be referred to with a specific one (usually, if there was going to be a specific one, it was “they”) but in general he could change from one to the next without any fuss, feeling completely comfortable no matter how they were referred to. He envied that- to have found yourself and know what exactly your gender was- that was a level of self-confidence the creative side aspired to have.

Roman frowned in thought. “They,” Roman whispered, “had gotten their makeup done today. They had liked the feeling of it on their face.” Roman smiled. They liked the sound of the new pronoun, although “he” wasn’t a bad fit either. But today, when they had been feeling a little less masculine, and a little more- whatever it was that they were feeling- it was a good fit. 

They smiled and before they knew it, they were asleep.

\---

A few weeks after the first time Roman had gotten their makeup done by Virgil, it had become somewhat of a routine occurrence. If Roman was feeling especially out of place in their skin, all they would have to do is knock on the anxious side’s door. The same went for Virgil, although when Virgil came to Roman the two would do makeup together, since Roman wasn’t quite on Virgil’s level yet (Virgil had been teaching them, though; slowly but surely, the creative side was improving).

Today was a “they” day for both of the sides. Virgil usually wore a bracelet when they had a specific pronoun they wanted to be referred to by (a Christmas gift set from the other three sides that had made them cry in gratitude. Not that Virgil would admit it), and was today wearing the silver “they/them” in cursive script on a delicate silver chain around their right wrist. Virgil had some sort of sixth sense that told them when Roman was feeling less masculine, usually only having to ask “They?” whenever they first saw Roman that day, allowing them to simply nod.

Roman and Virgil were in Roman’s room toady, chatting and doing makeup, and Virgil was going to braid Roman’s hair later. Well, attempt to. They had been growing it out a little since the first makeup day, and it had become somewhat braid-able. 

It was really quite strange, if you looked at the two of them. Mere months ago, they had been the ones to dislike each other the most, and now they were practically each other’s best friends. Logan and Patton had seen Roman and Virgil grow closer over the past few weeks, and even though the other two sides didn’t know the cause, they seemed grateful (Roman still hadn’t come out to anyone besides Virgil yet- not for fear of rejection, but simply because unlike Virgil, they didn’t totally know where they fit besides being nonbinary).

Virgil suddenly paused their playlist (an odd mix of Broadway and “emo” music). “What is it?” Roman frowned at them.

“I have something for you,” they said, sitting up ramrod straight instead of their usual slouch. “Hold on,” Virgil quickly exclaimed before vanishing, reappearing a few seconds later with a shirt. “Ta da,” they sarcastically deadpanned, practically pushing the shirt into Roman’s hands. 

They unfolded the shirt- it was light gray crop top, and in cursive script was written “Nonbinary Royalty,” the “I” dotted with a golden crown. “Oh my gosh Peck, this is amazing, Virgil! Thank you!” They exclaimed. 

“You like it?” Virgil said uncertainly.

“Like it? _Like it? LIKE IT?_ ” 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm yourself, your highness.”

Roman exhaled. “Yes, well, I can’t help myself when I get excited. Thank you for the gift, Virgil,” They sincerely told the anxious side. “I think I’m going to go put it on,” Roman told them, standing up and walking into the bathroom.

“Don’t die!” Virgil shouted sarcastically. “And don’t smear your makeup!”

“I won’t!” Roman shouted back.

It took them a few minutes to carefully exchange shirts so their makeup wouldn’t be ruined (setting spray helped, but they hadn’t gotten to that yet). “Well?” Roman asked after walking back into his bedroom.

Virgil sarcastically clapped a few times, with a smirk on their face. After a few seconds, though, they dropped some of the pretense. “Looks good. I mean, I knew it was going to look good, since I got it for you, but-“

“Oh, hush,” They told the other side, who just smirked in response. Roman sighed at them. “You look good today too, you know.” They blushed at Roman’s words.

“What…ever,” Virgil awkwardly said, with the slight pause in the middle of the word that happened when they were nervous or embarrassed. Virgil did look fabulous today, though, in Roman’s opinion. They had forgone the hoodie in favor of a crew neck sweatshirt with sleeves that were high enough to see their bracelet clearly that said “While you were busy conforming to gender norms, I studied the blade.” (a gift from Roman, who said that they had found it and immediately thought of Virgil, though Virgil had told them it made more sense for Roman to wear it. 

“Just take the gift, Virgil.”

“Okay, okay,” They conceded, but they were smiling nonetheless.)

Virgil wore only a light dusting of black (glittery) eyeshadow that faded out to the side of their face, accentuating their perfect cat eye. They had French braided their bangs back, going from one side of their head to another like a headband. Instead of their usual ripped skinny jeans, they wore a fairly short black skirt and their favorite purple converses. 

Roman had opted for ripped denim short shorts, which went well with their new crop top, and for makeup had used their favorite gold eyeshadow and a bold red lip. Virgil had done their eyeliner (honestly, how was Virgil so good at it? They said it just came with lots of practice, but Roman wasn’t convinced. Virgil was just really good at makeup), a sweeping and dramatic wing. 

The pause was slightly awkward. “Do you want me to paint your nails?” Roman suddenly asked.

“Now that you mention it, oh my god, yes please.” 

They started getting out their box of polishes. Roman may not be as good as Virgil at makeup, but they _had_ picked up nail painting and nail art fairly quickly, something Virgil had never quite perfected. “What color?” They asked the other side. “And don’t say black,” Roman added.

“I wasn’t going to say black.”

“You totally were.”

“Wasn’t,” Virgil said as they pouted like a petulant child. “I’ll do dark purple.”

“Hm,” Roman frowned in thought. “Want silver accents?”

They sighed. “You know what? Sure, why not.” Roman picked out the colors they needed for Virgil, then grabbed a deep red and a metallic gold for themselves. The two sides situated themselves on Roman’s floor again, with a towel on the carpet as a precaution. “So I’ve been thinking,” they told Virgil, “I think I might have found a label that works for me.”

“That’s great,” Virgil said. “Which one?”

Roman paused. “I think… Demiboy? I saw it online, somewhere, and as of right now it feels like the best fit.” 

“Are you going to tell any of the others yet? Not that you have to,” Virgil said as they saw Roman’s face pinch together with anxiety. “You don’t have to say anything until you’re ready.”

“Thanks.”

The conversation fell into a comfortable silence as Roman worked and the two let the music take precedence. They finished Virgil’s nails, then moved on to their own. Virgil had moved to perch on top of Roman’s dresser (“Virgil, _why_.”) while they added gold stars to the base coat of their own nail polish using a toothpick. When they were satisfied with their nail art, Roman simply struck up another light conversation with Virgil as their nails dried. The anxious side had gotten down from the dresser and had just started to braid Roman’s hair when they both felt the odd tingling pressure that meant they were being summoned by Thomas.

 _Guess the cat’s gonna be out of the bag for both of us, now_ , Roman thought. They glanced back at Virgil, who had obviously felt the call as well when they had nearly let go of the small braid that they started in Roman’s hair. Virgil quickly tied off their current braid and then shrugged at Roman. 

“We can always just both sit on the stairs and I can keep braiding, if you want,” Virgil said.

Roman shrugged. “Why not, right?”

They let Virgil handle the appearing, which might have been a mistake. “Ugh, how do you stand that?” Roman asked them, shaking their head a little as if they were shivering. The anxious side shrugged. Roman could hear the shocked silence as Virgil started another braid, the slight pressure of their hair being pulled somewhat comforting. 

Thomas, Patton, and Logan’s expressions were quite priceless, Thomas especially since he had no idea what was going on (which maybe wasn’t the best thing to find hilarious, but quite frankly, Roman didn’t care). The Logical side recovered first. “Hello Virgil. Roman,” he said to the two. They thought they saw Virgil jerk their head upwards in a half-nod as the anxious side replied “’Sup? Didn’t know we were doing a video today,” They directed the last part at Thomas.

“Uh, something came up, I guess, but I’m honestly very confused right now.”

Virgil’s chuckle was quite cynical. “Yeah, probably.”

“Aww, both of you kiddos look absolutely adorable!” Patton cooed. “You’ve got some cool makeup going on there.”

“Yes, I was aware you and Virgil had been spending more time together recently, Roman, though I was not aware that this was your chosen bonding activity.” Logan interjected, fiddling with his glasses as he spoke. Roman saw his gaze travel to just above their head, which meant he was looking at Virgil’s hands. 

“…Ah. Of course.”

Thomas became even more confused, if possible, head rapidly turning towards Logan. “Of course what?” Patton, though, understood Logan’s statement and searched above Roman’s head himself. He smiled at Virgil and Roman could see him automatically switching pronouns for the anxious side in his head. 

“Virgil? Would you like to do the thing we have been telling you to do for months?” Logan’s voice gently chided. They heard Virgil sigh. “Yeah, okay.” Roman felt them finish off another braid and instead of letting them start another, they patted Virgil’s hand and the stood and walked to their corner. Virgil turned to face Thomas. 

“Okay, Thomas, there’s something that… I might not have told you yet. Not because of like, any particular reason, I just didn’t feel like it was totally relevant, but-” Virgil cut themselves off from their rambling. Thomas wasn’t saying anything, gazing at them with full focus.

“Uh, well, you've probably noticed my clothes by now.” Virgil shrugged again. “I’m nonbinary. Agender, specifically. Surprise, I guess?”

“Wait, what?” Thomas asked, obviously still a little confused. He looked around at the sides (though he didn’t seem to have processed Roman’s shirt yet, but they saw Logan looking at them with a somewhat strange look on his face). “You all knew about this?”

“They told us a few months ago,” Logan supplied. “A few weeks after we learned their name.”

“They? Wait,” Thomas started panicking, “Have I been using the wrong pronouns for you this whole time, Virgil?” he asked the side earnestly. 

“No, I’m usually chill with any pronouns, I just have some days where I want to use a specific one.” They held up their wrist to show him the bracelet. “They all got me a set of pronoun bracelets in case I ever had a day that I needed to use a specific one. Nerds.”

“You know you love us,” Roman teased. Virgil rolled their eyes and they saw Logan stiffen just a little. Roman’s comment finally brought attention to their shirt, though. “Kiddo?” Patton asked. “Did you have something… you might want to tell us?”

“Well, I guess there’s no way around it,” they said. “I have been spending more time with Virgil because I have found with much soul-searching that I, too, am nonbinary,” Roman exclaimed dramatically. _That felt kind of great, they thought._

“So none of you knew about Roman until just now? Except Virgil,” Thomas asked the other sides for confirmation. 

“No,” Logan answered, “This is the first Patton and I have heard of it as well.” The logical side turned to address them directly. “Are you still comfortable with he/him pronouns? Or would you prefer for us to refer to you with different ones?” Roman pursed their lips. 

“I have decided that both “he” and “they” pronouns are the most comfortable for me, although if you would not mind,” they adjusted their posture so that they were addressing the entire group, “I would prefer that you use “they” today.”

“Of course, Roman,” Thomas said. “Same goes for you, Virgil.” 

“Thanks.”

“Anything you need, kiddos,” Patton chimed in. 

The silence that followed was intimidating. No one really knew what to say, or if they should speak, which only led to it becoming even more awkward. _To be fair_ , Roman thought. _I wouldn’t know what to say if I had suddenly found out that two parts of myself weren’t cis either._ Just because nobody was speaking didn’t mean that they didn’t notice Logan’s poorly hidden glaces at them. But despite being, as the logical side had previously called them, “extra,” Roman did know that now was probably not the time to make a scene and point out his stares.

Thomas was the first one to break the silence. “Well, as informative as this has been, maybe we should finish another day.”

Virgil shrugged, as if they didn’t care one way or another, but Roman knew that they appreciated the gesture. As open as they were with their gender among the sides, and now Thomas, Roman also understood that Virgil wasn’t quite ready to be out to the world. Neither were they, for that matter. (Although, really, it would be beneficial to some of their audience, but that was a conversation for later.)

“Sounds good,” Roman replied. 

“Well, if you don’t mind, Thomas, I think the four of us are going to go ahead and have a little chat,” Patton stated. “Uh, sure, go for it. We can talk later,” Thomas replied. 

“Great!” The moral side exclaimed, giving a pointed stare to all of the other sides. “I expect to be seeing all of you in five minutes max,” he said, pulling out the dad voice that the moral side rarely used. Thomas looked taken aback, but Roman and the other sides simply nodded, used to Patton’s responsible side that he occasionally pulled out. 

Logan awkwardly alternated his gaze between them and the two others, though in the end fixed his eyes on Roman. He softly said, “I’ll see you in a few minutes,” and sunk out, leaving the two nonbinary sides and Thomas alone. Roman knew that he was probably telling Patton to wait it out for the other two sides in case what was definitely going to be somewhat of an explanation ended up being longer than the aforementioned five minutes.

“So,” Thomas trailed off. “You’re both… How does that even work? Not that I’m doubting your identities,” he rushed to add on. “I just-”

“Thomas, it’s okay, I know what you mean,” Virgil answered. They continued, “The simple- well, mostly simple- answer is that we’re a _part_ of you, but we’re not _all_ of you. So just because _you’re_ cis, doesn’t mean we have to be. I mean, is anxiety really a gender specific thing?”

“Um, I guess not.”

“Therefore,” Virgil explained, “It’s not _that_ strange that your anxiety wouldn’t have any gender at all. And you’ve said before that Roman has started to represent more of what society considers your “femininity,” right?”

“Yeah,” Thomas said while nodding, understanding where Virgil was going with their explanation. “So it makes sense that Roman is-” He turned to them. “Do you have a specific identity? Or are you more comfortable with just ‘nonbinary?’”

Roman pursed their lips. “Well, I just told Virgil this today, so the others don’t know, but I think that the word that most accurately describes my gender is ‘demiboy.’”

Thomas hummed. “Well, you both better get going. I’ve never heard Patton use that kind of voice before,” he chuckled.

“Oh, no,” Virgil assured him. “Patton uses his dad voice all the time.” They smiled and gave Thomas their signature two-fingered salute. “Later,” They said as they sunk out.

“ _À bientôt_ ,” Roman said, starting to sink out.

“Wait,” Thomas called out to them. They rose back up. “You speak French too?”

“Thomas, I speak _all_ of the romance languages. _Ciao!_ ” Roman snickered as they sunk out, leaving Thomas with an extremely confused look on his face.

 _Time to face the music_ , they thought as they appeared in the kitchen, greeted by the remaining three sides.

\---

Patton, being the amazing person (if one used the term “person” loosely) that he was, had made each side their favorite drinks in preparation for the conversation that was most certainly going to be at least a little emotionally charged. 

The moral side had brewed coffee for Logan and Virgil (one cream for Virgil, and an inordinate amount of sugar for Logan- the logical side had a secret sweet tooth), tea with just a few drops of honey for Roman, and a hot chocolate (that Roman figured was probably spiked with espresso) for himself. They saw Virgil, unsurprisingly, sitting on the counter and swinging their legs like a child, and Logan and Patton sitting at the actual table, Roman’s drink in front of their usual chair. They sat down and took a long sip from their mug. 

“So,” Patton said after Roman had finished their sip of tea and was silently waiting for the conversation to start, but not willing to start it themself. “You’re…”

“A demiboy, I think,” Roman replied. 

“Did you think that we would not accept you, even after we had clearly accepted Virgil?” Logan asked with a somewhat worried look on his face, nodding his head toward the aforementioned side. 

“No,” They told the others. “I just- I didn’t want to say anything until I was surer of my identity. The details of it, that is. I didn’t figure out that I was specifically a demiboy until a few days ago, and I had just told Virgil today, right before we were summoned,” Roman said. 

“It’s true,” Virgil commented, shrugging and saying “What?” when Roman turned and looked at them. “They did say that. They weren’t afraid of coming out to you guys.”

“Well,” Patton smiled at them, “I’m just glad you feel comfortable enough to fully express yourself around us, kiddo!” Roman smiled back. “Thanks, Patton.”

Logan straightened as he said, “I, too, am glad you have told us this.” The logical side pursed his lips. “Do you think,” he asked Roman, facing them directly, “you would perhaps be interested in some sort of way to express to us what pronouns you would prefer we refer to with on a specific day?”

“Like Virgil’s bracelets?” They questioned.

“Precisely.”

“Oh! Oh!” Patton exclaimed. “We should totally do that. What pronouns should we do?” 

“I…” Roman pushed down the emotion welling up inside them. Their family cared _so much_ about them, it was incredible. Even though they had known the other sides and Thomas would be accepting of them, it was something else entirely to experience it firsthand. Roman cleared their throat. “As of right now, the only pronouns I use are ‘he’ and ‘they.’”

They picked up their mug to take another sip from their tea, smiling behind it. Patton had moved on, congratulating Virgil on coming out to Thomas, though Virgil was obviously trying to keep the moral side from making it a big deal. Roman lowered their mug and caught Logan’s eyes. The other side stared at them, pursing his lips together in concentration. 

They felt Virgil’s eyes on the back of their head, somehow. “Hey, Pat,” They called. “Want to go watch a movie?” 

“Okay,” Patton said, delighted. Roman saw Virgil’s eyes pointedly stare at them as the two walked past Logan and Roman into the living room. They sighed. “You’re right,” Roman told Logan. “Virgil is indeed ‘extra.’ And obvious.” Logan grimaced. “Yes, though I don’t think you have any right to judge,” his face devolving into a slight smirk. They smirked back at him. “Not judging. Just stating facts.”

“I suppose.”

“You know I’m right,” Roman said, raising an eyebrow at the logical side. “They’ll make such a cute couple, I can’t wait for them to realize their feelings. Or at least for Virgil to stop being oblivious to theirs.”

Logan snorted. Roman smiled at him but then schooled their expression into something more serious. “Shall we… do you want to talk? You keep looking at me like you want to talk. Look, Logan, it’s not that I felt uncomfortable or scared to come out to you, if that’s what this is,” Roman rambled at the other side. They gave a sharp exhale and continued, more slowly this time. “We can go to my room. Or yours.”

The logical side looked pensive. “We can go to yours.” They nodded at Logan. The two sunk out in unison and appeared in Roman’s room. The makeup from before they and Virgil had been summoned was still laid out and scattered around the floor, so the two sides sat on the king sized bed instead, both in silence. Neither Roman nor Logan wanted to be the one to start the conversation, apparently. Eventually, Logan grimaced.

“You sounded pretty sure that Virgil and Patton would eventually get together, back there.”

“Well, yeah,” they replied. “I mean, you’d think Virgil wouldn’t be so oblivious to their own feelings, they talk about Patton _all the time._ ”

Logan’s frown deepened. “I had thought- well- you and Virgil had been spending a lot of time together. I hadn’t known that this,” he gestured to Roman’s face, which still had their makeup, “was what you two were doing.” Logan blushed. 

_Oh,_ Roman realized suddenly. They thought about all the times Logan had been awkward around them since they had started thinking about their gender and spending more time with Virgil, all the times he had acted strange around Roman. _Oh, of course._

“I know that I’m not that good at emotions, but, Roman- I-” 

Roman bit their lip. They thought about all of the things they had tried to push down, that they tried not to think about. How Logan could never possibly like them back. The way he smiled at them when they complimented him. The way he could talk forever about something he was passionate about, and how he seemed to know at least _something_ about everything. How smart he was. How he sometimes got heated with Roman, but always apologized later, even if the others didn’t see that because he did it late at night. 

How they had thought their love was unrequited, impossible, something that would only exist inside a dream. 

“Roman,” Logan started to say again. “I know that you probably don’t feel the same, but I think that I might love you.” He took the awkward pause of Roman trying to compose their thoughts into something coherent as rejection started to leave. “I’ll just-“

“Logan, wait-” they called out. The logical side paused and turned back to face them. “I…” Roman said. “Logan… me too.” And there was that brilliant smile, the kind that appeared when Logan solved an especially difficult problem, or completed a particularly challenging puzzle. They smiled back.

\---

A week later, Logan nervously approached Roman with a fairly large jewelry box. 

“I thought- since we got bracelets for Virgil, I could get something for you as well.” He straightened and exhaled. “Just open it.” Roman did, and gasped.

Inside, there were two gold necklaces, both with delicate chains. One had a cursive “He/Him” in the center, the other with “They/Them.”

“Are these satisfactory?” 

“They’re lovely, Logan.” Roman looked back and forth between the two pieces of jewelry, then picked up the “He/Him” necklace. “Help me put it on?” He asked the logical side. Logan set down the box with the other necklace still inside on the kitchen table and took the necklace from Roman. He wrapped his hands around Roman’s neck, transferring one end from the hand that held both to the other hand and clasping the two together behind the creative side. Roman turned around and smiled brilliantly at Logan after he had finished. “Well? How does it look?”

Logan blushed. “It looks wonderful.” 

“Thank you, Logan.” Roman saw him try to tame his face into something less emotive. “Yes, well, you are very welcome.” 

Suddenly the two sides heard an alarmingly loud “I called it!” from Virgil, who was in the living room hanging out with Patton. He and Logan rolled their eyes but still shared another small smile. Roman’s smile turned to a smirk as he backed away to shout at to him. “Hey, Virgil, how is wooing Patton going?” He teasingly asked.

Logan covered his mouth in an attempt to control his laughter. Roman could hear the anxious side’s hiss of “Roman!” just before hearing Patton say, “Wait, what?”

Roman started full out laughing. As he and Logan stood there, he thought about just how much had changed in only a week. How much that was going to change. And yet, as he stared at Logan, Roman couldn’t find it in himself to be afraid of any of it.

**Author's Note:**

> you'd think for someone terrible at writing dialogue i would write less of it...
> 
> check out my other writing stuff on my [tumblr](https://www.pastelvirgil.tumblr.com/tagged/emmy-writes)
> 
> also some of roman's dialogue was borrowed from the crofters: the musical video.


End file.
